


Catch Me

by chemicalroses



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Angst, Baby, Bro-ship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gratsu - Freeform, I'm so sorry, Juvia is a cutie, Love, M/M, Natsu Needs a Hug, Pregnant, cute moments, family love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-20
Updated: 2015-04-20
Packaged: 2018-03-24 23:16:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3787984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chemicalroses/pseuds/chemicalroses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>.</p><p>Ever since they were small, Gray and Natsu had hated each other. One was ice and the other was fire. One was calm and one was energetic. One had lost everything, and lived his life feeling like everything he grew close to was killed because of him; while the other busied himself trying to avoid the fate the other had been handed. Gray felt like he had to beat Natsu, and Natsu felt like he had to beat Gray. One had to win. Their battles were always more than “just fun”, and they knew it.</p><p>They knew that one day, one of them would be the other’s undoing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Catch Me

Falling is an interesting sensation.

You know that it is going to happen before it does. Because when you’re about to fall, you can see it happening. You know that your hand is going to let go, or your foot is going to slip right out from under you. You can see it. You know it.

And then it happens.

Your heart stops. All you can hear is a loud silence in your ears and a rushed inhale preparing for a shriek. Then you don’t feel anything.

It’s just nothing. The air doesn’t hold you. There is nothing to grab on to.

Knowing that there’s nothing you can do is probably more horrifying than falling itself.

But the worst thing?

The worst thing is plummeting downwards and waiting—waiting for the impact that you know is going to come. The impact that you know will kill you.

Natsu knew this.

There’s a difference between falling and jumping.

And there’s a difference between jumping to die and jumping to save someone else. Suicide is giving up. It’s showing weakness that the world around you has won, that your past has caught up with you and the present has strangled you to the point where there is nothing that could possibly get better.

Sacrifice is strength. It’s putting someone else before you; giving them the second chance that you’d never have again. It’s the ultimate way of showing someone just how far you’d go to save them.

Gray knew this.

Ever since they were small, Gray and Natsu had hated each other. One was ice and the other was fire. One was calm and one was energetic. One had lost everything, and lived his life feeling like everything he grew close to was killed because of him; while the other busied himself trying to avoid the fate the other had been handed.  
Gray felt like he had to beat Natsu, and Natsu felt like he had to beat Gray. One had to win. Their battles were always more than “just fun”, and they knew it.

They knew that one day, one of them would be the other’s undoing.

But before that day came, the quirky children grew up. As they learned to fight alongside each other, their hatred turned to dislike. Dislike turned to finding the other annoying, annoying turned to bearable, bearable turned to comradery, and finally, once they became team Natsu (a name that Gray never agreed with), they finally grew to become friends.

They both found love; Natsu with Lucy Heartfilia, and Gray with Juvia Lockser. Even though they both supported each other’s relationships, sometimes they wondered what the hell Lucy or Juvia saw in the other.

“Why don’t you two get along? You’re friends.”

Their wives would ask, expecting a long and elaborate answer. There certainly was a long elaborate answer that could have been given. But it wasn’t.

“Because he’s Natsu.”

“Because he’s Gray.”

And their lives continued. They were happy with them, and their guild. Nothing could change it until January of that same year.

They were in the middle of a fight. It was the wintertime, so everything was cold and iced over. The enemy was the master of a strong guild that had risen against the council. Makarov was ill and unable to fight. Erza and Jellal were fighting off the mages from the guild. Gajeel and Levy were back at Fairy Tail protecting it. Juvia and Lucy were there, too. Gray and Natsu were responsible for taking down the master, who was supposedly hiding out on top of a tall mountain. They were both out of magic, and exhausted from fighting off the opposing guild members. It had been nearly two days since they rested or eaten, and during that time they had been battling non-stop. Natsu was especially depleted since he was responsible for providing light on their journey up the mountain. Gray had to physically grab the slayer’s burning hand in his freezing one to put out the ball of fire.

They could make it without light, he had thought, if it meant that Natsu could focus on regenerating his powers.

Not only was Natsu’s magic basically nonexistent at this point (as well as Gray’s), but he had never been as cold as he was then, with the weather being so bitter and harsh. The wind stung and the snow and rain felt like little bullets flying through his skin. His limbs were growing numb from cold as well, and he was lucky Gray was there to catch him when he constantly stumbled (as embarrassing as it was), because if he had been alone he was sure he’d still be at the bottom of the mountain.

Honestly he had no idea how Gray could stand it.

For a while it was just them dragging their feet up the mountain and trying not to fall asleep or think about the generous amount of injuries they had received. Natsu had to keep reminding himself why they were doing this in the first place to try and re-boost the sense of power within him. They had climbed the mountain to try and find the brains behind the operation, the one that had the power to cease the entire fight. The master.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, they found themselves on the top of the mountain. It actually resembled a volcano more than a mountain, since it had a large gaping hole in the center with a thin layer of ice covering it. The bottom was hundreds of feet below, and Natsu couldn’t see it because of the harsh wind blowing hair into his face and the occasional thick wall of snow and rain plowing into him until he lost his balance. He tried to pull himself together enough to take in his surroundings, but the dangers proved to  
be un-seeable even through the eyes of a dragon slayer.

However, to an ice mage, the cool exterior was no secret.

“Watch it,” Gray grabbed Natsu’s forearm to prevent him from moving any further.

“Thanks,” Natsu huffed, pulling his scarf up so it covered his mouth and trying not to shiver from the bitter air stinging his cheeks. His skin was starting to bleed and crack, and despite the nagging in the back of Gray’s mind telling him to make Natsu sit down and rest so he could heal, the ice mage rolled his eyes and teased him a little of how much of an amateur the dragon slayer was compared to an ice mage. Natsu just laughed. 

And suddenly, the playful mood was crushed.

“I see you’ve found me,” A sick voice whispered from a distance away.

They both whipped around preparing themselves as best as they could for a fight. The two of them had expected the master of this guild to be an actual human being, like most villains were. But they were wrong.

The mountain began to shake, and a large arm made of pure magic energy erupted from the side of it. Then a head, and shoulders, and a long torso with two equally long legs attached to it became visible, and when the process concluded a giant of a man completely made of magic was standing before them.

“Are you the master of the guild who won’t stop attacking people?” Natsu, despite how he felt like his limbs were slowly freezing off and disintegrating, stepped into a fighting stance. The man did nothing but gaze back at him with huge black eyes.

He was translucent, the specks of magic and the gold-ish glow radiating off of him blemishing the clear sight that would’ve been seen instead.

“How can this be?” The man asked himself, ignoring Natsu’s question. He glided over the thin ice, and Gray could tell from this that gravity didn’t have any effect on him.

“How?” He repeated, “How is it that two men with so much power misuse it?”

He glided closer to Natsu, who did his best to remain looking threatening. He and Gray had made a deal with the other S class mages (they had become S class years earlier) to start moving in on the mountain when a signal was given. Since the signal was Natsu blasting a stream of fire into the sky, he had to store his energy. Fighting right now wouldn’t be wise.

“Back away, Pixie dust,” Gray stepped up behind the man and pressed his raw hands together, like he was going to use ice make.

“Oh, no,” The master inched even closer to Natsu and raised a hand up near his neck. The Salamander made the mistake of trying to smack it away from him, but the man saw it coming and clutched his hand, hard.

Gray didn’t know what was happening when Natsu let out an ear piercing scream and his body went rigid, his legs giving out.

“I said back away!” Gray yelled, sending an ice spear in his direction. The man’s free hand that wasn’t holding up Natsu made the spear stop in midair and with a flick of his wrist, turned it into the same substance of magic he was made out of. He inhaled it and gave another hysteric smile.

“That is wonderful,” He commented, “You have much potential.”

“Let him go,” Gray charged at his friend and was thrown back by an invisible force field.

“No,” The man said, “I quite like sucking the rest of his magic out of him. It makes me more powerful, and him weaker. When I’m done he may not ever use magic again. A man’s magic is equivalent to his life, you know.”

“Yeah, I do, but—“

“Now that I think about it, why don’t I do you, too?”

“What do you m—“

Gray was cut off when the man flicked his wrist again and Gray was suddenly was completely absorbed in the magic drainer. It took a second to sink in, but when it did, Gray could feel all of his magic being ripped out, and it hurt like it would if the blood burst from his veins and was being sucked out of his body. His eyes rolled back in his head and he also let out a shriek that was so loud, Erza could hear it from her fight. The re-quip mage, being as smart as she was, decided it would be best if she and the rest of the people at her post went to check up on the two mages.

Natsu’s hand was the only thing coated in the magic drainer, and when he saw his friend struggling with his entire body trapped inside of it, he became determined to break free.

“A-ahh,” He grunted as he tried his best to pull away. However, the more energetic he became, the more the substance spread further on his body. It fed off of his energy and magic.

“You cannot break free,” The master smiled down at him and watched as the body in front of him writhed around in desperation.

“Let Gray go,” He yelled, tears clouding his eyes. He was beginning to feel ill, and his body was shutting down. The injuries and weather didn’t help him much, too. But he had to stay awake, he had to get out, he had to get Gray out, and he had to get back home.

“No, he will stay with me. He will be a lovely asset to my guild. I just need to brainwash him, like I’m planning on doing after I’m done with you.”

Natsu struggled as hard as he could, and fought as hard as he could, but the more he tried the more his body rejected him. It wanted to give in.

“Come on, little one, just go to sleep. Let me have your magic.” The man cooed. Natsu winced at the tone of his voice, and continued to struggle.

Gray was unconscious in the magic, the pain too overbearing for his whole body to handle. Anger started to boil in Natsu’s stomach as he saw his friend helpless and in potential fatality.

“If you let Gray go, I’ll sleep,” He choked out, not revealing the truth of what he was planning. “I _swear_ , just let him go, he’ll die,”

“That’s so cute, looking after your friend like that.”

The grip on Natsu’s hand became stronger, and he could feel his limbs start to give out as the amount of magic leaving him at one time doubled.

“But I’m not interested in making deals.” The master hissed and used his other hand to grab a fistful of Natsu’s hair and yank his head back, withdrawing the magic from his brain. There was a flash of gold behind the dragon slayer’s eyes before pain took over, electrifying everything three times as much.  
It was so sudden and unexpected that Natsu let out one more hopeful cry for his friend to wake up before collapsing in a dead faint.

“ _GRAY_!”

Since the man had broken the connection with Gray so that he could break Natsu, the ice mage fell to the slick floor, still unconscious. His body was completely drained of all magic and energy.

“And they say the fairies are one of the most powerful creatures,” The man shook his head with disappointment and raised Natsu up by the hair and gliding over to the thin ice.

At that very moment, Gray’s eyes opened. His body was burning and stinging from what had just happened, and it was physically impossible for him to move, let alone stand. His senses were gone, and there was a throbbing in his head that was louder than anything that could possibly be happening around him. His magic was gone.

Then he saw his friend, dangling helplessly over the fatal drop that was almost positively going to happen. He saw the cheeky child Gray had met when he had joined the guild and the fireball of energy who had leaded Fairy Tail in most of its finest battles. He saw his best friend, the one person other than Juvia and Lyon who he loved like family and hadn’t left him. He looked at that person, and knew that he could not lose anyone else.

With a grunt and a newfound energy blossoming from his chest, Gray stood up, ignoring the broken bones and the gallons of blood gushing out of his new and reopening wounds. He couldn’t feel anything, all he could do was watch the horrific sight before him and try and convince himself that this whole thing was just a twisted nightmare.

  
He knew this wasn’t true, because as the man released Natsu, the adrenaline in Gray’s veins plus the sick feeling of dread filling his stomach was all but imaginary.

  
It wasn’t a decision that Gray had time to think about. It wasn’t even something that he needed to think about. This was not a situation where he could’ve debated about whether or not there was even the slightest possibility of him surviving. He just knew that it had to be done, and he was the person who had to do it. He had felt this way before, when he had seen the love of his life in range of deadly lasers that would kill her in an instant.

Gray gritted his teeth together, and used the last of his energy to move is clumsy legs and throw himself off of the edge.

 He was falling freely, numbly, not feeling or caring about anything that was happening to himself. Eventually he was in arms reach of Natsu, and was able to grab and pull him so they were attached. Then, hearing his heart in his head, Gray flipped himself around so the front of his body was facing upwards. He grunted as he pulled Natsu on top of him and wrapped his arms around his waist so he wouldn’t drift away.

Sensing that the icy ground was near, Gray shifted his weight so that he was positive that he’d get all of the impact and Natsu wouldn’t. The final few seconds before the clashing moment, Gray closed his eyes and saw pictures rolling behind his eyes.

He saw his parents and friends back home, Deliora, Ur, Lyon, iced shell, the Fairy Tail symbol, the guild hall, Makarov, Loke, his first fight with Natsu, Erza, Lucy, reuniting with Lyon, the Death of Deliora, Juvia, how he fell in love with her, their wedding, and the fun and amazing times he had over the years. But the image clear in his mind when he hit the ground and felt the ice shatter beneath him was Natsu only moments earlier, screaming for him to get up.

_He wouldn’t let any more of his friends die._

Gray’s neck and his back both snapped as he hit the ground, but Natsu didn’t feel any pain. His eyes opened slowly, a few moments after the collision. He rolled off of the broken body underneath him, dazed and confused, but realized what had happened as soon as he heard a strangled sigh come from the man next to him.  
Natsu whipped his head around and the time stopped; Gray Fullbuster was laying there, blood everywhere, with his body contorted into unnatural positions. He saw Gray—his best friend—on his deathbed. And it was because of him.

Natsu started breathing more frantically as he leaned over so that Gray could see him. He took the freezing hand in his shaking one and felt tears helplessly streaming down his face. A look of relief filled the ice mages face as soon as he saw the Salamander, and he then spoke his last words.

_“Thank you,”_

And then he became nothing but a memory; a smile playing on his lips until the very end.  
…  
Erza had shown up three minutes later, and began fighting the dangerous master with the other S class mages by her side.

“Where are the two men who used to be here?” She had asked slyly.

“They proved to be weak, especially that Salamander’s little sidekick. He must have been a good friend, to have died for him. Not many people do that these days, you know.” The man said in a fake apologetic tone. Erza’s eyes widened.

“What?”

Everyone on the mountain suddenly flinched as the ground they were standing on started to shake, and fire exploded from the crater in the center. A roar lined with pain rang through the silence, and Natsu flew out of the center of the flames. He appeared larger than life, and the rage and sadness on his face was unmistakable. Eyes blazing. Teeth bared. Blood and tears splattered over every inch of his torn up flesh. The image of the smiling corpse was still downloading in his mind; the last broken words making his head throb and his vision go red.

“His name was Gray,” He howled, blood dripping off his lips, “and he was not a fucking sidekick!”

Then he attacked him.  
…

**One month later, after Fairy Tail’s victory**

…  
The guild was still in mourning. Especially Juvia. She pretty much hadn’t left her and Gray’s house since the funeral, and everyone was worried. That’s why when she entered the guild hall on that day, wearing skinny jeans no one knew she had owned and Gray’s oversized sweatshirt that was bunched into sweater paws in her hands, everyone was surprised. She had been expecting that kind of reaction, however, because she shrugged everyone who had approached her off and walked right over to Natsu, who was sitting at the bar, glaring daggers into the wall. His sour expression changed the millisecond after he saw Juvia, who he jumped up and embraced.

“Are you okay?” He asked. He knew that Gray would never forgive him if he let something, anything, bad happen to his wife.

“Juvia came to see you,” She said numbly, ignoring his question, “she needs to talk to you.”

They walked over to Natsu and Lucy’s house quietly (Lucy had stayed behind, knowing it was a delicate situation) and Juvia seated herself on the couch as soon as she entered.

“What is it?” He asked, worried. She began pulling at the sweatshirt in her hands and tears began to fall from her eyes.

“The day before Gray… You know…” She began, struggling to get the words out, “Juvia was sick in the bathroom as soon as she woke up. She thought it was nothing, but it kept happening, even after that day.”

Her tears kept falling, and Natsu handed her a towel that had been lying on the small coffee table in the center of the room. She took it.

“It was two days ago when she decided to t-take a pregnancy test,” She bit her lip as she began hyperventilating, “And it came out positive,”

Natsu’s eyes widened and he leaned forward in his chair.

“You’re pregnant?”

She nodded.

Natsu felt his heart stop and his breath catch in his throat.

“I don’t know what to do,” Juvia panicked, forgetting to speak in the third person, “Gray is gone, and I can’t do this without him, he needs to be here!”

Natsu couldn’t help letting a few tears fall himself, but they weren’t because he was sad; quite the opposite, actually.

“We’re here for you, Juvia. The guild needs this. You need this. There will be a little Fullbuster in the world, and what’s better than that?” He put a hand on her shoulder and she  
calmed down, smiling the smile Gray had fallen in love with.

“Do you think Gray would be happy?” She sniffed. Natsu nodded and smiled back at her.

“What do you think?”  
…

**Eight months later**

…  
Juvia had given birth to a boy. He was beautiful, and was the spitting image of his father. Everyone had said so when they had seen him.

“He’s perfect,” Juvia kept saying as she held him close, “He’s perfect, he’s so perfect.”

It took days before she was ready to let anyone hold him, and even when there was an open opportunity, Natsu opted not to volunteer. Honestly the dragon slayer was terrified. Everyone could see it, especially Lucy.

He was suffering from PTSD. And he had it bad. Sleeping was laughable, since every time he closed his eyes all he could see were Gray’s lifeless ones looking back at him. Sometimes he even hallucinated and saw Gray standing in the guild hall—only when Natsu reached out to touch him the eyes came back and the body collapsed on the ground, blue lips mumbling about how it was “all his fault”. Fights within the guild rarely happened anymore, since whenever the dragon slayer heard even a small cry of distress he’d start having an anxiety attack and forget how to breathe.

It was hell for him.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way; Natsu knew that, he knew that Gray had died to give him a better chance. He just didn’t know why it was this hard. Every time he tried to feel better he was sucked back into that moment where time had stopped and his world had shattered. Every time; and sometimes he’d see Gray when he was happy and healthy, surrounded by the guild members, in combat, with Juvia, helping and supporting everyone because that’s the type of person he was.

He remembered a very specific night towards the beginning, when the wounds were still fresh; he was lying (awake) with Lucy in their bed. She was asleep against him, breathing evenly, with a peaceful aura about her. Natsu was doing what he normally did, which was trying to distract himself until morning came. He thought of past events, some of which he thought he had forgotten but all of which involved Gray. All he could think about was how unfair it was that Gray wouldn’t be able to meet his child and how great of a father he would have been. Then the thoughts got darker and darker and uglier and uglier until Natsu had to rush to the bathroom toilet and be sick. Lucy was up seconds after she had felt a disturbance, and had sprinted to his side, trying to soothe him.

She was crying, too, and was repeating something to him, but all he could make out in the haziness around him was his own sobs echoing in his ears.

“I _stole_ his life, I _stole_ it, I stole it, I stole everything, _I stole it, he’s dead, he’s dead, I killed him_.”

The next day he woke up in the guild infirmary with an IV in his arm and tubes running down his throat and nose. Lucy told him that it was because he had fainted and had a panic attack as soon as he had come to.

It had been an ugly few months.

He didn’t want to be sad anymore. He wanted everything to go back to the way it used to be, where people didn’t look at him and feel the need to treat him like he was a ticking time bomb. At the same time, however, he was scared. He was scared that if he let his guard down and behaved recklessly, he’d be dishonoring Gray and everything he had done.

He was scared that he’d hurt everyone around him.

Hence, he was scared that he’d somehow hurt his child.

Maybe Gray didn’t want his son to know the man he had died for. Maybe Gray didn’t even want Natsu to move on. He couldn’t protect him.

A voice in his head would always tell him that these ideas were insane and he should just shut up and make something of himself. But the devil’s advocate would always respond just as loud.

He didn’t go with Lucy to go see the newborn on his first few days. He didn’t know if he would be able to keep it together.

“You’re sure you’ll be alright on your own? You’re sure you don’t want to come?” The celestial mage had asked, worried. Natsu did his best to smile for her, because she had gone through hell and back as well and deserved an award for putting up with him this whole time.

“I promise I’ll visit him later, I just…” He couldn’t finish his sentence as much as he wanted to, but his wife understood and kissed him before leaving.

“Natsu,” She had called from outside the doorway, causing him to turn back around to look at her, “I love you. We all do.”

Those simple words must have triggered something, because he felt warmth spread through his chest for the first time in months. He surprised himself by smiling a genuine smile back at her.

That was when he decided to visit Juvia and the baby the next day. First, he decided, he needed to visit someone else.

Makarov and the rest of the “authorities” that had any say in where Gray was to be buried decided to put him to rest in the church where Lisanna (when she was presumed dead) used to be. This didn’t sit right with Natsu. It was similar to the feeling he had when Lisanna had “died”, which was a mixture of discomfort and stress. The solution Natsu had come up with was to make another grave for his deceased partner in crime by the river where they used to fight. So after walking past and tossing a flower on the church grave, that’s where the fire mage went.

It wasn’t big or magnificent, just a strategically stacked rock pile hidden in the shadows of a few bushes. He would always bring a candle to light whenever he visited, which, as much as he hated admitting it, was not very often.

“Hey Gray,” The words felt like rubber against his tongue, unfamiliar and strange. As he sat down, he shoved the candle into the dirt around the rocks and snapped his fingers to light it. “I came to visit.”

The little one sided conversations he held were always mind numbing to him. Truthfully, Natsu didn’t know what he really believed in. He was a true agnostic, which was why speaking to a spirit who may or may not exist was troubling to him. But he did it anyway, because if he was positive about anything it was that Gray was somewhere, whether that place was heaven or wherever his soul was, and he could hear him.

Any other visit would have gone on like a regular one, where the person told them about their day or asked them questions that would never be answered. This time, Natsu just sat there in front of the rocks with his head in his hands, not speaking. The never ending tsunami that was his mind began to settle for one of the first times, and he didn’t know how long he had been sitting there or what had triggered the unfamiliar feeling of tiredness to overtake him. His muscles relaxed. His eyes drifted shut.

He woke up hours later, on his side, the candle burning silently next to him.

“Thanks,” he felt himself saying to the rocks, “I… just… thanks.”

He returned home to a very frustrated Lucy, who was pacing in front of the main doorway with her arms crossed and her lips mumbling incoherent things like they always did when she was upset.

“There you are,” She sighed with relief and anger when she saw him, “where did you go? What happened? Are—“

He cut her off by grabbing her by the shoulders and kissing her hard. It was their first real kiss in what seemed like forever, and Natsu finally found himself feeling something when he touched her. His heart swelled. He felt like he did before, when he allowed himself to love someone.

“I’m okay, Lucy,” He smiled against her lips and looked directly into her deep brown eyes to make sure she could comprehend what he had to say, “thank you. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for staying.” He wrapped his arms around her tighter than he had been.

“I love you.”

She didn’t know where this was coming from, but from the way she was kissing him back, he assumed she understood.

Then, it was the next day, and Natsu was standing in the waiting room of a hospital. Juvia had been kept there longer since her body was different from the average woman’s and the doctors had to make sure that she was in a stable condition, so he had to wait until she had finished her most recent test to go into the room.

He busied himself by reading the little pamphlets about diabetes and mental illnesses they kept on the cheap coffee tables, but he wasn’t really paying attention to anything other than the text printed on the page. His mind was elsewhere, daydreaming about all the different ways this meeting could go. He had caught himself biting his lip and cracking his knuckles a few times (both habits were apparently “normal when dealing with anxiety”, or so the doctors say), and had to do something to get his mind off of the situation ahead.

“Natsu Dragneel?” A nurse’s voice made the mage quite literally jump out of his chair.

“Yes, that’s me,” He answered breathlessly, feeling his legs move on their own to follow the voice down the hallway to where Juvia was. His legs grew heavier with every step, and he was sure that his bottom lip was now bleeding from how much it was being abused, but he didn’t have any patience to care.

“Natsu!”

A familiar, happy voice shook him out of his daze, and he looked up to see his friend sitting in the hospital cot. Her blue hair was pulled up in a messy ponytail on the top of her head and her face looked very tired, but she looked ecstatic. Seeing her like that alone was enough to bring Natsu to happy tears, but the bundle of blankets in her arms was the elephant in the room that he chose not to ignore.

“Juvia,” he greeted her, taking a step forwards. Her lips stretched into a wide smile and she motioned for him to come closer.

“Come over here,” She said, “I was wondering when you would come to see us,”

Natsu had to replay her sentence in his head, one because she hadn’t spoken in the third person and two because she had said the word “us”, which made him remember the real reason why he had come.

“Yeah, I’m sorry it took so long,” He managed to say. She looked away for a second, her happy face turning grim.

“I understand,” She said, nodding. Natsu placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Oh,” She perked up again, “you’re here to meet someone, aren’t you?”

He nodded, shaking off the nerves.

Juvia held up the little bundle so that the dragon slayer could make out the small person within it.

Natsu thought he was going to faint.

There, inside the folds of the blanket, was a baby. But not just any baby. This baby was the spitting image of Gray, with his dark hair and his facial structure and his little hands that were pressed together in a way that resembled the ice make symbol. His eyes were closed and Natsu could tell by the even breathing that the baby was asleep.

“Do you want to hold him?” Juvia whispered. Natsu didn’t respond right away, but eventually he gulped and nodded sharply, letting Juvia guide the child into his shaking arms.

There was that split second of terror where Natsu was positive he was going to drop the baby, but the feeling faded almost as fast as it came.

Minutes past, and all the dragon slayer could do was just stand there and admire the beauty that was the small person in his arms. Then, something amazing happened. The baby’s eyes opened.

His eyes were a piercing light blue color, and they were shockingly beautiful. Natsu froze when he saw them, and noticed that they had a bit of a downwards slant to them, like Gray’s used to have.

They looked at each other for a few seconds, and then the baby opened his mouth and Natsu felt his mind jump into second gear and all he could think was that the baby was going to cry and hate him and grow up despising him and _he is going to cry he is going to cry he is going to cry._

But the little one _didn’t_ cry. Instead, his little hands flew up and he laughed. Natsu felt his heart melt.

"He's never laughed for anyone like that before," Juvia said, smiling warmly, "He must really like you."

“Hey there, droopy eyes,” Natsu whispered, not able to recognize his own voice. Tears were probably gushing down his face at this point, but he didn’t really care since the baby was now making little gurgling noises while he laughed and was beginning to reach his little hands up to grab at the white scarf around Natsu’s neck.

He stood there with the baby for a long time, and in those small moments, he could feel the shattered pieces of himself slowly gluing together one by one. The glue wasn’t that sturdy, and the pieces would probably fall a few times before they stuck, but Natsu finally, finally realized that, eventually, he would get better.

“When you're older,” Natsu smiled his pointy toothed smile and ran a hand over the baby’s cheek. "I'll tell you a story about the greatest man I ever knew. You look a lot like him."

The baby smiled even wider back at him.

**Author's Note:**

> I love angst and FT, so why not put the two together? This is just my first story, but you can be expecting more in the future.


End file.
